


incandescent.

by bythegleamofalantern



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, I love them so much, zutara month 2.0 babey!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23958562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bythegleamofalantern/pseuds/bythegleamofalantern
Summary: A series of drabbles based on the prompts for Zutara Month part 2.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25
Collections: Zutara Month 2020





	1. flowers.

Katara's voice is in her throat the whole time. 

She's not even sure if Zuko will show up, she's not even sure if he'll appear. She's not expecting that to happen, at all. She paces back and forth in the garden, looking at all the trees and flowers at her feet. They're pretty, to be sure, but Katara's mind is occupied.

And then Zuko is here.

By some strange crazy, wacky, unprecedented miracle, he's there, and it means the world. It means _everything._

"Zuko." That word is hard enough to say, but the sweetest sound she's heard so far out of her lips.

"Kat." The use of her nickname makes her heart melt a little, and she's emboldened. 

"This is gonna be crazy," Katara starts. "But I have to say it."

"Go ahead." Zuko's eyes are warm, soft, a little like molten gold, and his voice is just as soft. She could look at him leaning against the cherry blossom tree forever, honestly.

"It's like this." Katara takes a deep breath, steepling her fingers before she continues again. "You're one of my best friends. And I never expected that. You being one of my best friends, I mean. Especially since we were... Enemies for the first couple of months since we knew each other." Katara takes a deep breath.

Zuko nods, his nose scrunching a little as he laughs. "True. I just regret spending all that time plotting against you and your friends... And Aang... It could have been time we could have spent working together, you know?"

Katara nods in response, gulping as if she has something stuck in her throat. "Maybe. But I'm glad things ended up the way they did. It feels like that was the way it was meant to." And she smiles. Suddenly, the words burst out of her like a canon. "Because that's the way I fell in love with you. I wouldn't have wanted our story to be anything else, you know?"

"You love me?"

Those three words change everything for her. 

"I do," Katara admits. "I've loved you for a while now, and I felt you should know."

"Katara..." His eyes are bright, almost teary. "I... I don't know what to say." 

"Then don't say anything." Katara says with a grin. 

Zuko smiles back at her. For one brief moment, there's a blazing look in his face... And then...

He kisses her. 

Katara's mind is all waves, crashing on the sand over and over, in her ears and her heart, and she finds herself kissing him back as the cherry petals fall around them.


	2. winter.

"Relax, Zuko."  
If Katara's being honest, though, it is a little funny and a little sweet seeing Zuko try so hard to stay upright on the ice like a wayward duck. He's clearly not used to skating... Or being out in the cold in general. Wherever her boyfriend hailed from, it was warm and snowless.  
"I'm trying." Zuko looks like he's on the brink of death or something as he hangs onto the railing of the rink.  
"C'mon." Katara extends a gloved hand to him. "Let me help you."  
"If you're sure." Despite the hesitance in his tone, however, his smile is warm and relieved as he takes her hand.   
"Good." Katara skates a little ahead, with Zuko nipping at her heels. It's getting easier for Zuko to keep up with her, a relief to them both. "Are you feeling better now?"  
"A little," Zuko admits. Katara chuckles, shaking her head. Leave it to Zuko to be stubborn and put on a brave face. It's a little annoying, if she's being honest, but also sweet in its way.  
"Let's just keep going."  
And so they do, circling the rink as snow falls hard and coats the rink. Soon, her hat and her coat are completely covered.  
It's been a while since she's been back home, but somehow snow in the city makes her remember it again. It makes her feel nostalgic and a little less homesick all at once.  
Katara loves winter.  
Amid her reverie, however, Zuko falls and falls hard.   
"Oh my goodness!" Katara tries not to laugh. "What happened?"  
"I think I slipped on my tailbone," Zuko admits. "But it's fine." A brave smile, meant to reassure her.  
"Maybe we should take a break." And so they do, with Katara sipping on warm spiced apple cider on the bench, Zuko right beside her.  
Katara looks at Zuko, sleeping on her shoulder as she turns her attention from the other skaters glide across the length of the rink.   
"Sleep tight," Katara murmurs. Brushing a few strands of hair from Zuko's face, she kisses his forehead gently.  
Perhaps Katara is seeing things, but she swears she sees Zuko's face break into a small sleepy smile at the gesture.


	3. chance encounter.

"What do you mean the book's not available?" Katara laughs, almost scoffing as she turns to the bookstore clerk. "I could have sworn it was in the day I came in yesterday."

"I'm sorry, miss." The salesclerk does admittedly look a little apologetic, and Katara has a hard time being wroth with her. Katara sighs, then continuing.

"How long ago was it?"

"An hour before you came in."

Katara takes a step backward in disbelief. "Seriously?" Hah. Of all the rotten luck in the world.

"Sorry, ma'am." The clerk turns her attention to the next customer on her right, leaving Katara confused and a little crestfallen.

Who was this person, anyway? Katara can't help but fume a little. Of all the books they had to pick. Love Amongst The Dragons. She's always thought of her tastes as... niche. (Sokka certainly thought so, anyway.) But c'mon, a girl could indulge in some mid-century Japanese authors, couldn't they?

"Why I oughta..."

It isn't until she steps out of the store that she sees the book snabber... busy reading the romance novel without a care in the world. 

Katara's just about to tell them off when the book lowers and she sees their face. His face.

He's not like any boy (or girl for that matter) she's ever seen. The scar, admittedly, was something that drew the eye. There was no escaping or ignoring that fact. More than that, though, there's a certain something about that face. A calmness, almost, but also a fire. There's just something in his golden eyes that makes her look the extra beat, that makes her pause ever so slightly.

"Oh." 

"Can I help you?" The boy looks confused, but not necessarily angry. 

"I just..." She stammers. Why is she stammering? She's not like this.  _ Just talk to the boy _ , she tells herself. You can do that much, can't you?

"I know that book you're reading." She mutters. "It's a good one."

"Murasami," he replies. "I like the use of imagery in his language."

"Exactly!" Suddenly, Katara's alive, sparking as her blue eyes widen and crackle with enthusiasm. "I loved that scene in Snow Falling In April with the daisies being covered in frost..." She's yapping away, yammering. She knows it.

The golden-eyed stranger doesn't seem to pay that any mind at all though, fixing those eyes on her.

"What's your name?"

"Katara." She puffs out her chest a little. "Yours?"

"Zuko."

They shake hands.


	4. betrayal.

The night is quiet, and that's just how Katara likes it. Nothing but her and the ocean, and her thoughts. Indeed, that's where she feels home, in truth. Call it the instinct of a water bender, but she always finds herself looking at her reflection in the water to collect herself and her thoughts.

"Everything okay?" Zuko sits down beside her. By now she's comfortable enough with his presence that she won't protest, so he stays in silence.

"I'm fine." Mostly.

"If you're sure." Zuko shrugs.

Katara sighs, flexing her feet and feeling the sand on her toes. "Well... There is something I've been thinking about. Lately."

"Oh?"

Katara turns toward him, her blue eyes searching his face. "That day in Ba Sing Se..." 

"Oh.  _ That. _ " Just like that Zuko shifts, somewhat uncomfortably. "What about it."

"I've never understood..." Katara trails off. 

"Yeah?" Zuko scoots just a smidge closer. 

"Why you did it." Katara looks upward at the sky. "I kept trying to think of a reason why you would betray me. Betray us." She can't help but frown. "Were you mad at us or something?"

"That's not it," Zuko replies. "It's... more complicated than that." He clears his throat. 

"Try me," Katara challenges.

"I mean, yes, it probably was because of me being conflicted about the right thing to do. What I wanted." Zuko sighs. "Maybe that was the big reason. But another reason was..."

"Was?" Katara presses.

"My family." Zuko surges on. "I know, I know. I know what my dad and my sister are. More than just about anyone." Zuko frowns slightly. "But they're also... my family. I spent all this time, caring about them. I didn't want to... feel like I abandoned them, you know?"

Katara looks at his face again. "I can tell that you mean that. That you really mean it." She sighs. "That doesn't make what you did okay. But I can understand it." She rubs her arm up and down, not knowing what else to say.

"Does that help?" Zuko asks, before smacking his forehead sharply. "Bad question."

"I mean, it makes me understand you more, I guess..." Katara says. A slight smile appears on her lips. "My family means a lot to me too. If someone told me I had to save the world or Sokka..." Katara bites her lip. "Well, I'm not sure I would know what to do. What choice to make, you know?"

Zuko nods. "Let's hope you don't have to." Slowly, he pats her shoulder. "Sokka and you are lucky to have each other."

"Thanks." Katara laughs a little. "And I'm sure Iroh's lucky to have you, at the end of the day."

"We'll see," Zuko says a little hesitantly. "But I hope you guys at least are happy with me here."

"You could say that." Katara leans into Zuko, her head on his shoulder.

They stay that way for a good while.


	5. cave of two lovers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm still working through some of these prompts!this was a fun one to do because i wanted to do something a little bit out of the box haha

It's been years and the Cave of Two Lovers still takes Katara's breath away.

Her duties often brought her to the Earth Kingdom. She often visits Omashu with her brother and Aang, but every so often she'd come to Ba Sing Se. The city was still every bit as beautiful and grand as it had been the first time she'd been there, though the history it held for her made it a little complicated and confusing to be here at times. 

She's here with Zuko though, her partner, as he comes to treat with the Earth King. The new Earth King, she reminds herself. (She's still not sure what happened to the old one.)

It's hard not to dwell on the past, but she decides to try anyway. She doesn't want to think about Jet, about the Dai Li, about the way she'd been captured. 

Zuko's face is stone. By now, she's learned to read his expressions, really understand him as she's sure he does her, but in the torchlight his face is inscrutable.

And so they continue, walking in silence hand in hand as they traverse though the spindly paths of the crystal caves. Dark, damp, and wicked sharp if they weren't careful... And yet there's still something ancient and mysterious and beautiful about this place all the same.

Eventually, they reach a waterfall. Katara looks up for a moment, marveling at the majesty of the flowing water, listening to the rush of the current. She turns to find Zuko, but he's not at her side. Turning around, she looks on and searches for until she finds Zuko kneeling on the ground beside her.

_Could it be?_

"Katara," Zuko starts. 

She's speechless. For once, at least. "Yes?"

"I know we've had a strange journey together... These past years. I never would have expected to have someone like you by my side." Zuko takes out something from his back, though his palm remains clasped over it. "Someone so brave and smart and strong and kind and..." Zuko trails off, almost as if his words are choking him. "I love you, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe."

"I love you, Zuko." And she means it, she truly does. War might change the world, and peace might be an uncertainty even now, but she knows how she feels about Zuko and she knows how much he means to her as a lover, as a friend, as a person.

That makes Zuko grin. "Katara," he continues as he reveals a blue necklace. _A betrothal necklace._

Katara lets out a soft gasp, her hands flying up to her mouth as tears form in her eyes. " Yes."

"I didn't even ask," Zuko replies with a chuckle. "Let me finish, okay?"

"Okay."

"Katara, will you marry me?"

"Yes." She responds emphatically as she leans down and tackles Zuko in a hug. "Yes I will, you loon." Zuko ends up falling to the ground, and so does she, but she pays that no mind.

_ Nothing else matters. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments and kudos are vastly appreciated, i like knowing you like my work/have something to say about it!i might not reply to them all but i appreciate every note, however small, whether it's about how you liked the fic or concrit!  
> thanks for reading, hope you're all doing well and staying safe!  
> -bythegleamofalantern


	6. family.

Face to face with his sister. 

Zuko's not fully sure if this is a good idea, not at all. He's sure that this is mostly madness. A folly.

But Azula deserves it, to know that she has someone in her corner, doesn't she?

Despite everything, she's his sister. She was hurt by Ozai just as much as she was, and she's probably in just as much as pain as he is. Or was, anyway. 

Zuko sighs, leaning against the door of the room. It's quiet here at the hospital, and he's certain that he and Katara are the only visitors here.

"Whenever you're ready, Zuko." Katara beams at him gently, a hand on his shoulder. He can't quite return that gesture, but he appreciates it nonetheless.

"You don't have to go in with me," Zuko tells her, not unkindly. "Just going with me this far is good enough."

"I'm happy to go with you," Katara replies, insisting. "Best friend. Moral support, remember?"

Zuko says nothing, just nodding as he walks in.

"Oh," Azula says as she eyes Zuko. "The Fire Lord has deigned to visit me. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Her face is its normal scowl, though not quite as angry or full of vitriol as she normally would have.

"Hello, Azula." 

Azula looks at Katara, coldly. "What is  _ she _ doing here?"

"Katara is my friend," Zuko insists. "It's none of your business."

"If you want to waste your time with a peasant, that's your business." Azula turns around in her chair, huffing. "So. What's new."

"Nothing." Zuko hesitates. "Just the usual." 

"And father?" Azula raises an eyebrow. "How's he doing?"

Zuko pauses. "The same. He's not taking solitary well, but he's alive."

For a moment, neither of them speaks. 

"There's tea," Zuko offers. "I can make some for you."

Azula says nothing, which Zuko takes as a good sign. "Alright." And so he makes the tea, a jasmine blend. Katara places the tea on the desk beside Azula. Azula says nothing, just gazing intensely. 

They sit there in silence, not knowing what to say. After a while, Zuko and Katara leave Azula to her thoughts.

"That was..." Zuko searches for the right word to say to her. "Better?"

"Oh." Katara nods slightly at that. "Do you think you're getting through to her?"

"Maybe," Zuko says. "I have to try, right?"

"You'll get there eventually," Katara states simply as she places a hand on his shoulder. 

Zuko grins quietly at that. 


End file.
